Improvement in grain-separators



C. BERGEN.

Grain Separator.

Patented May 6,1862.

Q mm

Inuen 7'01.-

@wmii Wffrless N. PETERS, Fhmu'Lillmgl-aphur. Wuhinfmn n. c.

UNITED STATES PATENT OEEIcE.

CORNELIUS BERGEN, OF COVERT, (FARMER P. O.,) NEYV YORK.

IMPROVEMENT IN GRAIN-SEPARATORS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 35,134, dated May 6, 1862.

To CLZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, CORNELIUS BERGEN, of Covert, in the county of Seneca and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Grain-Separators, the construction and operation of which I have described in the following specification and illustrated in the accompanying drawings with sufficient clearness to enable competent and skillful workmen in the arts to which it pertains or is most nearly allied to make and use my invention.

My said invention consists in the combination, with the raking apparatus, of a longitudinally-slatted bed having a vertical vibration at the forward end only, by which a more efficient action and perfect separation of the grain from the straw are secured.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a plan of my machine, showing it attached to a thrashing-machine. Fig. 2 is a side elevation, a portion of the side covering being removed to give an internal view.

I attach my machine to a thrashing-machine, as seen at 5 in Fig. 2, by means of the frame E, in which the operating parts of my machine are hung, the common carrier intervening between the thrashing-cylinder and my improved separator, though perhaps this carrier might for some kinds of work be well dispensed with. When the carrier is used, I prefer to connect the working parts of my machine, by belts or otherwise, to the pulleys used in transmitting motion to the carrier. In carrying out my design or intention I hang two cranked shafts, D, in suitable bearings in the frame E, the cranks which support the longitudinal pieces 0 being located in the same radial plane and at the same distance from the centers of motion. The rake-heads c are attached to these longitudinal bars in a firm and substantial manner, and in these the raketeeth 3 are inserted. \Vhen the rake is in its lowest position, these rake-teeth reach nearly down to the bed F. The parallel motion of the rake is secured by an outside connectingrod secured upon cranks at right angles to the cranks which carry the rake, being combined with the parts in the manner represented in the drawings. By this combination and the arrangement of the parts in relation to each other, as shown, while the rake is permitted to occupy the whole breadth of the bed, thereby raking the straw over the Whole bed at once, the parallel action is secured in the most efficient possible manner.

The bed F, upon which the straw is thrown from the carrier over the roller M, is a slatted frame, the slats running longitudinally with the machine. This bed or frame is supported upon an axis at the end nearest the thrashing-machine and at the other is periodically lifted and allowed to fall by means of cams 0 and corresponding depressions on the shaft N, to which rotation is communicated by means of a belt from the pulley G to the pulley J. The pulley J is slightly smaller than the pulley G, and consequently the lift of the bed with reference to the stroke of the rake is slightly changed at each revolution, so that the bed will be raised to its highest point of elevation during a different portion of each succeeding stroke of the rake than of the one previous, producing a varied and beneficial effect in the operation. The effect of this construction, combination, and arrangement of parts is to secure certainty in the discharge of the lighter grains from the slatted bed at the extreme outer end and to prevent the possibility of their discharge with the straw. As the grain falls from the bed F, it is caught by an inclined bed, H, around which the slatted apron or belt 6 is drawn, the slats sliding along the surface of the bed in such a direction as to draw the grain backward toward the thrashing-machine and discharge it near where the apron of the tl1rashing-machi11e discharges. The slatted belt 0 is returned under the bed II, as indicated by dotted lines. The highest point to which the bed F will be raised is indicated by the dotted line which terminates at 4.

I am aware that cranked shafts have been used before to carry the teeth of rakes for the purpose of raking the straw from the slats of a separator, and this feature I do not claim.

I am also aware that a machine has been constructed with pieces running longitudinally with the machine armed with teeth to catch the straw, and that the cranks upon this machine have been set in an angular po sition in regard to each other upon the shaft,

by which parallel action is secured, but at the expense of eflicient operation, for from the very nature of the case the rakes cannot well cover the whole bed, so as to operate efficiently upon all parts of it, but are distributed over several points, while in my machine the rake is continuous, extending across the entire bed, the connection being perfected in such a manner as to secure parallel action by the outside connection before described.

I do not claim, broadly, so constructing and c rranging the parts that one end of the slatted frame upon which the straw falls upon its delivery from the carrier may be raised and lowered periodically by means of the action of the machine irrespective of the manner in which the parts are arranged to accomplish this purpose. I am aware that in the patent of Martin H. Mansfield, February 27, 1855, the apron upon which the grain falls is represented as being designed to be periodically raised at the end toward the thrashingcylinder by the action of the machine; but

this arrangement is defective in its operation for several reasons, one of which is that the chief effect in shaking off the grain is produced at the first end of the apron at which the grain will be removed sufficiently by the action of the raking apparatus in raking off the straw, and Where at any rate it is not liable to be Wasted, While at the last end there is no provision for getting rid of the difficulty of the lodgment of grain on the slats.

Having thus fully described my said invention, I claim The combination, with the raking apparatus hereinbefore described, of the longitudinally-slatted bed and the cams O, for the purpose of producing" a vertical vibration at the outer end only, or end farthest from the thrashing-cylinder, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

CORNELIUS BERGEN.

Witnesses:

FAYETTE ALLEN, WM. E. AVERY. 

